New Hampshire is reaching the end of its recount process, and at least two seats have flipped to other candidates, according to numbers released by the Secretary of State’s office Monday.
So far, 19 recounts of state representative races across eight of New Hampshire’s 10 counties have taken place with one left to go. The ballot reviews overseen by the Secretary of State’s office are a time-honored tradition for the Granite State, with 424 legislative seats, two-year election cycles, and relatively low trigger thresholds.
On Tuesday, an eight-member team will undertake the state’s final recount: Senate District 23. Republican first-term Sen. Bill Gannon is challenging that he was unseated earlier this month by Democratic newcomer Jon Morgan.
Gannon lost to Morgan by 94 votes after the Democrat turned in a strong, pivotal showing in Exeter. That may sound like a comfortable margin, but in a district that recorded 25,674 votes, it’s a difference of 0.41 percent.
Here’s what’s happened so far:
Hillsborough District 5: A second tally of the House seat comprising Mont Vernon and New Boston saw Democrats take an extra seat. After Election Day, incumbent Republican Rep. Gerald Griffin looked to have clung to his seat with a 22-vote advantage over the nearest vote-getter, a Democrat. But a subsequent accounting by the Secretary of State’s office Nov. 13 showed that Griffin had actually received 11 fewer votes than first reported, while a competitor, Donna Mombourquette, gained 19 votes.
By a final margin of three votes, Griffin, a first-termer and member of the Finance Committee, was ousted and Mombourquette earned her spot at the State House.
Belknap District 3: In Laconia, meanwhile, the surge of new ballots identified during the recount benefited a Republican over a Democrat. At the end of an eight-candidate race for four seats covering Laconia’s six wards, the initial results looked like an even split: two Republicans, Peter Spanos and Frank Tilton, and two Democrats, Gail Ober and David Huot.
But the second count revealed 64 previously uncounted votes for that race, and Ober, the only non-incumbent among that list, fell short. While the Democrat didn’t lose any votes, and actually gained two, Republican Richard Beaudoin received a 16-vote windfall that let him beat Ober by three votes, tipping control of the district 3-1 to Republicans. Sitting Democratic state Rep. Phil Spagnuolo had already been ousted after the first tally, failing to break the top four, in an indication of the Lakes Region’s increasing rightward tilt.
Neither recount flip changed control of the House – nor even moved the party membership numbers at all – with Democrats remaining firmly in command with a 233-167 majority.
While some recounts produced upsets, the majority merely validated earlier results. Seventeen of the 19 races re-surveyed saw no change in winners.
Among the Democrats keeping their victories: Charlie St. Clair of Laconia, Jerry Stringham of Woodstock, Megan Murray and Julie Radhakrishnan of Amherst; Cole Riel of Goffstown; David Coursin of Northwood; Timothy Josephson of Canaan; Barry Faulkner and Jenny Gomarlo of Swanzey; Paul Dargie, Joelle Martin and Peter Petrigno of Milford; Joyce May Fulweiler of Northfield; and Brett Hall of Brookline.
Among Republicans: Robert Forsythe of Boscawen; Kevin Craig of Lancaster; Reed Panasiti of Amherst; Laurie Sanborn of Bedford; Joe Alexander and Barbara Griffin of Goffstown; Michael Gunski and Fred Plett of Goffstown; Jody McNally of Rochester; Walter Stapleton of Claremont; John Callum of Unity; Skip Rollins of Newport; Tom Laware of Charlestown; Charlie Burns of Milford; Greg Hill of Northfield; and Jack Flanagan of Brookline.
The recount team is set to recount ballots at 9 a.m. from the nine towns in Rockingham County that comprise Senate District 23, including Brentwood, Chester, Danville, East Kingston, Epping, Exeter, Fremont and Kingston.